eBay

westcoastart2 · ‎03-28-2018

On Monday I got an email from ebay saying I no longer qualified as a top rated seller.

The reason was my total global sales in the last 12 months was 85 (it needs to be 100). Everything else is perfect - no defects etc.

That didn't make sense to me.

My last 90 days, show 42 sales.

I went though my invoices for the 9 months before the last 90 days (ie I counted the total number of sales myself for the last 12 months), and found that ebay has recorded 120 final sales fees (ie 120 sales). Even accounting for the occasional non paying bidder, thats 35 more than ebay claims! (41% more in percentage terms)

120 sales is consistent with my expectation.

If you've recently lost your top rated seller status because of too few sales - double check that ebay isn't defrauding you as well!

mcrlmn · ‎03-28-2018

Mine has been showing 20% lower each month since last spring.
A member suggested that is because the Global and US transactions are separated now.
The numbers still don't jive.
I don't have any defects, and have top rated seller status, but those needing sales to remedy disqualifying percentages, aren't getting a fair shake.

cumos55 · ‎03-28-2018

My sales number has been lower as indicated on the Dashboard, than what they actually are.

This has been noted since the beginning of 2018.... about 15 % less since January 1. and right at this number as compared to what the total was for 2017

Others have noted the same .....

If you are on Global in the dashboard... then all sales will be shown... or atleast should be shown

momcqueen · ‎03-28-2018

I read your letter to the editor on ecommercebytes.

momcqueen · ‎03-28-2018

If that wasn’t your letter, then you know there is a more widespread issue and you should probably talk to eBay about it directly.

kawartha-ephemera · ‎03-28-2018

@westcoastart2wrote:
On Monday I got an email from ebay saying I no longer qualified as a top rated seller.

The reason was my total global sales in the last 12 months was 85 (it needs to be 100). Everything else is perfect - no defects etc.

That didn't make sense to me.

My last 90 days, show 42 sales.

I went though my invoices for the 9 months before the last 90 days (ie I counted the total number of sales myself for the last 12 months), and found that ebay has recorded 120 final sales fees (ie 120 sales). Even accounting for the occasional non paying bidder, thats 35 more than ebay claims! (41% more in percentage terms)

120 sales is consistent with my expectation.

If you've recently lost your top rated seller status because of too few sales - double check that ebay isn't defrauding you as well!

Ebay is not defrauding sellers, with the Summer 2017 seller update they made major changes to their "Global Top Rated" minimum transaction requirement.

The "new" requirement has been in effect since last summer, from that time Canadian sales to the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland have not been counted as "Global" sales which is likely the cause of the "discrepancies" noted in this thread.

United States transactions are totalled separately as are United Kingdom & Ireland and Germany Austria & Switzerland ... check your seller dashboard, totals are supplied for each of the 4 regions.

1. Global ( worldwide less the 3 regions listed below))

2. United States

3. United Kingdom & Ireland

4. Germany, Austria & Switzerland

These changes have been in effect since last year but ebay had allowed a "forgiveness" period.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-28-2018

@westcoastart2wrote:
On Monday I got an email from ebay saying I no longer qualified as a top rated seller.

The reason was my total global sales in the last 12 months was 85 (it needs to be 100). Everything else is perfect - no defects etc.

That didn't make sense to me.

My last 90 days, show 42 sales.

I went though my invoices for the 9 months before the last 90 days (ie I counted the total number of sales myself for the last 12 months), and found that ebay has recorded 120 final sales fees (ie 120 sales). Even accounting for the occasional non paying bidder, thats 35 more than ebay claims! (41% more in percentage terms)

120 sales is consistent with my expectation.

If you've recently lost your top rated seller status because of too few sales - double check that ebay isn't defrauding you as well!

You have 120 sales from buyers just in the global regions? As someone else mentioned, global no longer includes the UK, US and a couple of other countries.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-28-2018

@cumos55wrote:
My sales number has been lower as indicated on the Dashboard, than what they actually are.

This has been noted since the beginning of 2018.... about 15 % less since January 1. and right at this number as compared to what the total was for 2017

Others have noted the same .....

If you are on Global in the dashboard... then all sales will be shown... or atleast should be shown

That has been changed, it won't show all sales, just sale to buyers in the global region.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-28-2018

Is that the letter that just mentioned trs..not global trs?

Ebay just sent out a bunch of notices about people not having enough sales for global trs but in some of those letters they didn't mention that they were referring to global so those in the US thought they were losing their TRS status in the US. There were lots and lots of posts about that on the US boards yesterday and when some of them phoned, they were told it should be global trs, not US. So that would be different than the op's situation.

mcrlmn · ‎03-28-2018

I only ship throughout Canada and the US.
I've added the numbers and the monthly totals still don't jive.
I did the same thing the last time this was hashed over.
With the same result.

This is only a minor irritant to me, as I don't have any defects or pressing percentage issues; the fact that these monthly breakdown's are incorrect.
A couple of years ago, the same scenario occurred, and after about 3 months, was finally fixed.

westcoastart2 · ‎03-29-2018

It turns out, ebay's definition of Global has changed.

In the past, we had US and Uk as regions, and we also had the whole world, called Global.

You could be a top rated seller based on every sale you made to anyone, anywhere (Global).

For some strange reason, ebay also decided you could be a top rated seller based on sales confined to a specific place - ie sales to the US only, or to the UK only.

This has just changed. Global no longer mean sales to everyone on the globe. For Canadians, Global sales now basically means sales to Canada and Asia. All your sales to the US, and UK, Australia and a few lesser places like Germany are no longer included.

So if you are a typical Canadian seller who sells to Canada and the US - and for the sake of argument, you sell 80 items to Canada and 70 to the US, you just got robed of your top rated discount, and added search engine exposure.

Previously you would have 80+70 = 150 sales (Globally).

Now, ebay calls those same sales, 80 Global and 70 US.

Nothing has changed in terms of your seller performance.

The only thing that's changed is ebay is misrepresenting the word "Global".

In Ebay language, for Canadian Sellers, "Global" essentially means everything you sell except everything you sell to the US.

Given that Ebay claims to recognise Canada and the US as an Ebay trading block, this is blatantly unfair.

The direct result of Ebay changing its definition of the word "Global" to "local plus places you probably don't ship to", is to reduce the number of Canadian Top Rated Sellers.

My site sells investment grade, high quality original paintings (mostly Canadian), by listed artists for $200-$20,000 each. We have zero defects, and very happy repeat customers, and do about 120 sales a year, primarily to Canadian and American buyers. We've been on ebay for the last 8 years, and have been Top Rated as long as that option has existed. We are the definition of a seller that buyers can expect to deliver everything they expect. Now because ebay has chosen to change the meaning of Global, to Local, we are no longer considered to be a Top Rated Seller.

There is an easy work around. All I need to do is go and buy 20 made in China **bleep**py items for $2 each, and sell them on ebay for $1 each to Canadians, and I'll be top rated again. If anyone thinks that makes me a better seller, or ebay a better place to buy, then you may have a great future career waiting for you at Ebay!

momcqueen · ‎03-29-2018

This change was announced last summer.

Part of maintaining Top Rated Seller status on ebay is a presumption their sellers are keeping themselves informed of announced changes to policy and procedure, you would have gotten communication from ebay about this like the rest of us. No?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎03-29-2018

Wouldn't a fairer system be having it based on dollar sales vs number of transactions or a combination of both? Would eBay or a seller rather have 5 x $500 sales or 20 x $10.00 and the discounted fees associated to them? As a seller how much control do we have where the next buyer will be from or how many transactions we will have each month? Shortly after changing my listings to dot ca my total number of sales to the USA dropped like a rock(also affected by the ongoing calculated shipping issues that have still not been entirely resolved) causing me to lose that wonderful 10% discount for US transaction and a short grace period to "Fix it". If its accurate I am sitting at 184 transactions for Global, and hovering at 93 transactions for USA(and no sign of it moving up). Prior to that change I had no problem meeting the required targets. 6 of my 15 sales this month were to the USA and made up 75% of the total dollars in sales. Almost tired of checking to see what IS accurate and what IS really working on the assorted pages. When I lost that previously 20% discount/now 10% discount it was just another carrot being taken away. Some may agree and others may disagree but those are my feelings on the current situation.

-CM

PS. Of those 15 transactions this month only 3 smaller sales qualified for the promotion discount. We really have limited control on month to month volume of transactions and any discount helps, from my perspective. Making the target more difficult to achieve makes the selling on eBay just adds to our frustrations.

ypdc_dennis · ‎03-29-2018

@westcoastart2wrote:
It turns out, ebay's definition of Global has changed.
In the past, we had US and Uk as regions, and we also had the whole world, called Global.
This has just changed. Global no longer mean sales to everyone on the globe. For Canadians, Global sales now basically means sales to Canada and Asia. All your sales to the US, and UK, ~~Australia~~ and a few lesser places like Germany are no longer included.

Australia is part of Global. There are only 6 countries that are not part of Global.

Top-Rated sales are broken up into 4 areas: USA, UK-Ireland, Germany-Austria-Switzerland, and the rest of the world.

...

This change was phased in starting last August. Discussion in the forums was overshadowed by other eBay changes -- but it did get discussed.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Top-Rated-Seller-Requirements-mixed-numbers/m-p/382165

-..-

ypdc_dennis · ‎03-29-2018

@lotzofuniquegoodieswrote:
Wouldn't a fairer system be having it based on dollar sales vs number of transactions or a combination of both? Would eBay or a seller rather have 5 x $500 sales or 20 x $10.00 and the discounted fees associated to them? As a seller how much control do we have where the next buyer will be from or how many transactions we will have each month?

The current Top Rated global minimums are 100 sales and $1000 per year. Plus meeting the other ranking requirements (shipping and disputes).

...

The idea behind Top Rated is to recognize sellers who are doing a good job of selling. And you need a minimum number of sales to have a reasonable chance of having enough data to make a decision.

That said, I think Global really should be global.

Then eBay could also have a Canadian sales region for TRCS (Top-Rated-Canadian-Seller).

-..-

momcqueen · ‎03-29-2018

Perhaps you might like to consider consolidating your seller IDs if Top Rated Seller is important to you. One ID per Product Line will keep your per-ID numbers lower than one ID to sell everything.

around_again_records · ‎04-04-2018

@ypdc_denniswrote:

The current Top Rated global minimums are 100 sales and $1000 per year. Plus meeting the other ranking requirements (shipping and dispute
The idea behind Top Rated is to recognize sellers who are doing a good job of selling. And you need a minimum number of sales to have a reasonable chance of having enough data to make a decision.
That said, I think Global really should be global.
Then eBay could also have a Canadian sales region for TRCS (Top-Rated-Canadian-Seller).
-..-

That is such a good idea, it just makes too much sense for it to be implemented.

Totally agree about the "Global" designation. Language should mean something. How the heck do we know what anything means if anyone can just make up words and change definitions as they please. Global is Global period.